The present invention relates to a portable parking meter device and to a method of operating the same.
It is customary for local authorities and parking lot owners to charge fees for allowing drivers the use of parking spaces, in covered or open areas or along streets and in parking lots. The problem arises, when parking in different cities or in parking areas belonging to different parking authorities, of charging each driver for his use of the parking space and making sure that the charges will be credited to the proper authority or parking lot owner. This invention is essentially directed to solve this problem in connection with local authorities, e.g., municipalities, and reference will be made to them: however, private parking lot owners might also benefit from it. Fixed parking meters which are operated by coins do not solve the aforesaid problem and are limited in use by their very nature. Another solution consists in selling to the drivers parking cards, each of which can be used only for one parking, and which has means for marking thereon a day and the period of time in which the parking occurs. This solution, however, has many drawbacks. Each municipality must sell its own parking cards and those are not interchangeably usable for various municipalities, except in case of special agreements between them, which are in practice very limited. Furthermore, the exact parking time cannot be reckoned and a certain latitude must be afforded to the driver in marking the time in which the parking begins. The use of electronic parking cards, embodying a timer, has been suggested, whereby the start and the end of each parking time can be registered exactly, but even in this case the use of each card is limited to a specific area within the compass of one local authority.